Rock What You Got

Nothing to make me feel totally badass like sporting my new dreadlocks and blasting Superchic[k] from my car stereo.

Yet, there is a weird juxtaposition going on. I took my 13 year old cousin to see them on the "Cross the Line" tour over a month ago and we went down to the front with the other kids (I taught her well! She actually asked to go down this time!) and by the end of the show I couldn't help but ask myself that indidious question, "Am I too old for this?!"

It didn't hurt that out of the lineup the only bands that I liked were Disciple and Superchic[k]. My cousin liked KJ-52 who I hear enough good things about to doubt my own opinion but I couldn't help but think that unless he had a stellar off-stage persona he would, at the very least, drive me insane on the bus and was, like, 9 parts "entertainer" (and that's granting a lot) to 1 part musician (never really evident but I'll take his albums as some kind of evidence). Anyway, I was sort of tired by the time Tricia, Melissa, Dave, Matt, and Brandon took to the stage, and I have to say I like their commitment to "cool" in coordinating outfits and stunts. Their set was good but it had the faults of every set saddled with no less than FIVE opening acts- too short! I appreciated getting to hear a few songs off of the new album and, albeit, their later work is better than their earliest, but it was their first two albums that got me through high school! Standing a foot or so taller than all the junior high kids around me I wondered if my anomaly status means I should listen to their music primarily from the confines of my car, jerking and weaving with my earbuds in, or, more generally, alone.

I don't know. I'm just thinking that I've seen these guys three times now- and actually that in the last 12 months. The first time was great and I went by myself and danced like crazy and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I have NEVER again been so sore after a concert. Second time was at Lifest and was definitely amidst the much younger crowd and felt slightly out of place. That was intensified being packed among girls I felt like I might stomp all over if I were to dance and proceeded to chat through EVERY set.

So, am I old and curmudgeonly?? Who knows.

I like the new album, my only beef is that I pre-ordered it and it only came in the mail TODAY! I feel like that is just wrong! Seriously, their last three albums I bought the day they were released and this one I buy early and get a week later?!

Also I read a review that mentioned that really there was only 28 minutes of new material on this studio album that has taken three years to get. So roughly, ten minutes of work to show for each year...I'm pretty happy to have anything, myself. But I do see his point. I haven't gotten to dig into the album yet although I'm liking the veneer so far. I'm very interested because their past releases have come to me just when I needed it and I'm curious to see how the sound and writing will strike me now. When I popped their CD in I definitely did feel it.

I'm looking forward to seeing them next week at Lifest.

I also have a slight crush on Dave. :)

which leads us to.... chair and microphone, vol 1 review

I downloaded Chair and Microphone, Vol 1 from emusic.com about a week ago and, gosh, the more I listen to Robin and Ben Pasley just...do what they do... the more I like them.

The first time I was mesmerized by their style of music and worship was through the songs "save me" and "improv" from their collaboration with Waterdeep on the first "Enter the Worship Circle" album. The improv song left a big impression on me- especially when I learned that its title says it all; it's literally an improvised song that wanders through some of the best bits of Song of Songs, Isaiah, and Hosea. Then it weaves that with personal responses to the promises offered in those places, really poignant and more beautiful for its spontaneity.

So, back to the project at hand (it's not newly released or anything, just new to me, I've been eyeing it for a while now) the song that stands out the most is the first one, "Pieces." The imagery is wonderful, it immediately caught my attention with the first line I swallowed the key/to the door painted red/that leads to the big room filled with regrets. I just love how concrete it is, and poetic.

I suppose that highlights one of the Pasleys talents which is managing to make really strong emotional connections with really specific images while at the same time constructing choruses that are accessible but not trite.

My other favorite tracks are probably "Rescue Me Deep", "Wedding Days" (I like the straightforward simile running through the song), and "Answer Me." I also really love the whole construction of "Crown Him."

But in the vein I've come to expect from these projects almost all the songs speak to me in different ways, at different levels as they play through.

They really have managed to continuously capture the spirit of the psalms. I say that in the sense of containing pieces of your personal journey even if it's not where you are at the moment. The Catholic Church participates in the ancient Christian tradition of praying the psalms everyday and we all pray the same psalms. Obviously the millions of people praying the same psalms are not all in the same place in their emotional and spiritual lives and yet these words resonate with all of us somehow. So to say that Ben and Robin have managed to create pieces of art that can have that effect is high praise.

Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Alli Rogers

My sister went to see the aforementioned trio Friday night and wrote about it on her blog. In typical "us" fashion she decided to drive to West Virginia this evening to do it all over again...

Rita Springer: I Have to Believe

So the cool thing about emusic.com is that for a monthly rate you get a whole slew of songs and, unlike a napster type service, it's DRM free. Sweet. I read the stats on the website and they say something like (because the lowest membership level is $10/30 songs a month) their users typically download 30 songs a month compared to an itunes user downloading 2 or 3 songs a month. I don't even WANT to track my monthly itunes spending but I know that for $10 I only get ten songs, not thirty, so their claim that their users are more likely to branch out and experiment with more music seems pretty well founded.

Case in point, I downloaded Rita Springer's new album, "I Have to Believe." I bought it based off of a few reviews I read that were positive and the fact that she sings "Freedom Reigns," a song I LOVE, and her song "Like You Jesus" was one I also really connected with and put on my Lent07 playlist.

So I decided to listen to the whole thing and although I don't know that this album will become one I come back to in its entirety time after time there are definitely songs that I think will reach that status, most notably "Rise Up." Anyone familiar with Neil Anderson's books would probably have the same immediate reference point but her lyrics really bring to mind his powerful Biblical statements of "Who I am in Christ."

I am blessed among the people
I am blessed among the nations
I am blessed because I am loved by You

I am loved and highly favored
Saved by the grace of a mighty Savior
I am blessed because I am loved by You

No weapon formed against me will prosper
No curse can ever take His promise from me

When hope is gone and the darkness has fallen
I will still believe, I will still believe

I`m will rise up, I`m will rise up
I`m will rise up and call myself blessed
I`m will rise up, I`m will rise up
I`m will rise up and call myself blessed

I also really like the track "O God Of Mine." I think it's gutsy to open a song by saying, O God of mine, I'll have no idols. I appreciate that.

Overall it sounds slightly more like something my Aunt Melody would like (nothing wrong with that, we just don't listen to TONS of the same stuff) than I normally listen to but there is an intensity and authenticity laced throughout which makes the songs truly inhabitable.

You And The Evening Sky

So Alli's new album officially releases tomorrow and I hope that many people get to interact with her words, music, and emotion.

You and the Evening Sky opens with the kind of electone organ drama which is sure to ignite the excitement that any fan of Alli’s is sure to be feeling when they slip this CD into their car or computer. And the record lives up to its beginning.

The songwriting is a bit different than on her other albums which makes me curious about the ways she is evolving as a songwriter- are we seeing a truer voice, simply a movement away from conventionality, the influence of co-writers?

I think the reason I love Ms. Rogers’ songwriting is her strong use of imagery. In the interviews included on the bonus downloads from discrevolt.com Alli and Don discuss their differences as songwriters and Don mentions that Alli is a very visual songwriter. I would be interested to unpack that a little more (because Don Chaffer can conjure an image more realistically than any illusionist) because I think this album is even more poetic than her others. Poetic in the sense that images tell the stories and the songs are further stripped of narration than some of her previous. I think this works in varying degrees; it really works on “How Long Until We Get There” but (as I have already discussed ad nauseum) I think it detracts in “New Today.”

Not to say her songs are spastic leaps from vision to vision- some have explicit narrative progression (“Baby I Believe in You”) and my favorite marriage of ecstatic imagery and clear narrative has to be “Things We Can and Cannot Keep.”

I wanted to display some snippets of image but perusing the lyrics I’m delighted to say I don’t think it works to pull them out of context- this is so pleasing because it makes me feel like these songs are really tightly woven. In the interview with Don she talks a lot about the emotions poured into the songs and evoked in their completion and I think that gets more to the core of Alli’s songs- they resonate in ways that are abundant, the way the word “sun” barely captures the thing that warms and enlivens our planet, the way “wind” scarcely covers the phenomenon both of a warm and gentle caress of air and also the destructive power that can rip buildings apart and trees up by the roots.

I've been mulling over this record for a few weeks now and the more I listen to it the more I like it. It's artistic, thoughtful, and it's poetry continues to impress me more the more I get to engage it.

Carry A Light: Firstly, I want to know if the line about a ,i>gift on the riverbank is a reference to Moses or if I am (as usual) reading too much into it.

I love the images and ideas here, it's like skipping stones across water and ripples in the same way. I can't help but think of Galadriel's phial for Frodo, the dark places in all of our lives and how to bring the light there, I love the memory of this song. Also the hopefulness- that's what light is, right?!

Don't Wash Your Hands of Me: I like the narrative of this song; it's sort of ambiguous and I like that. Also! Includes a section of "lalalaladada"s that I like. The lyric that stands out is I don't need you to feel my pain/I just need you to know my name. I also appreciate the boldness of saying I am innocence and I am truth.

Closer to the Moon: Besides being on my own Buechner kick which makes me appreciate this song, I like the conversational tone. It's full of strong imagery and word choice, when the silence gets accusing, the word "accuse" just has such heft to it.

I like the stars as a sign, the way the music in the song changes- it actually reminds me of some of Don's songs, I love the way it sort of wanders. I love the building background vocals of a kind of chanting, I love the piano interlude, I like the lack of words following the questioning and gives the listener time to respond.

At Sea: As a FL girl living in two different COLD places these past few years I love the bend of the song- it reminds me of A Severe Mercy, there are some great adjectives and turns of phrase.

This was another song that was on the live album but immediately I noticed the SWEET addition of mandolin! I'm a total sucker. :)

Things We Can and Cannot Keep: WHAT WILL SHINE LIKE GOLD WHEN THE STORY'S TOLD- that is a great lyric and such a beautiful, important statement. We all are so starved for meaning- this is where I want Buechner's journey to have an influence. It's a great song of self-discovery. I like the homage to Tim O'Brien and the strangeness of what we end up keeping- what shines like gold retrospectively. To take the analogy further it tends to be the times where, as Christians, we might say we are bing "refined," always a surprise.

PLUS, the writing is so tight! The line breaks are so well engineered, I also like the musing spirit, in a way. WHY ARE THESE THINGS THE ONES WE KEEP? I like the combo of question and answer, authority and apprenticeship.

I Caught Sight: I love to come to songs like these!! It REALLY CAPTURES the joy of unexpected glimpses of divinity, childlike in a way; delighted. I like the bits of vocal padding- it really is working. The vocals have a splendid exuberance to them.

Baby I Believe in You: My only complaint about this song is that it is totally MARRED by the "boys" making fun of it on the bonus sections! :) I think I like the use of the word "sexy" in songs like this (see Derek Webb). I love the idea of being led into the sea, something is great in that.

More sweet mandolin. And Alli's brother (Michael?) does a great job on percussion. I also like the you're a good man. I want to pray that part alone over so many of my brothers- I deeply appreciate the underlying confidence in the song.

How Long Until We Get There: This song is downright seductive. In the best way possible; a great example of Alli's emotional vocal range. I love the simile, head bowed like a child reciting grace.

I'm not always like this/I can't always find something this good

As an artist, I LOVE that line, for some reason that lyric just condenses this whole song- it's so HEADY, the strings take it over the top.

Come Now, My Love: I'm really into the use of the first person in this song- something about the perspective is slightly different and challenging.

there's nothing to keep you from me

...it sort of changes the perspective as an invitation not an invasion. It's a genuine love (agape) song, I like that I feel it could be about marriage or Jesus could be sweetly singing this into each of our hearts.

Go listen.

Empty & Beautiful Part 2: a few thoughts (really)

Because New Music Tuesday is only an hour away I found new music reviews from Christianity Today on my google reader and when I saw Matt Maher I clicked on the headline so fast I frightened even myself.

I think Russ Breimeier's years of experience with music make him a pretty accurate ear, he was especially spot on in pointing out that "Empty & Beautiful" plays it a little too safe and doesn't adequately showcase what Matt Maher is really capable of.

AMEN.

As I was flying from Charlotte back to Denver today I embarked upon one of my favorite traveling past-times: listening to an artist's complete discography chronologically. As I watched stars come out, lightning exploding under the clouds beneath us, and more clouds stretch on and on I was really struck by how different Matt's earlier songs are from this album I hope to be in my car's CD player within the next 24 hours. That train of thought went as far as me seriously considering how I could get my hands on unreleased songs Matt has written!

My point is that along the way there has been a shift (perhaps totally natural) away from writing more first-person, searching, vulnerability-tinged songs and towards more congregation and CCM friendly pop praise. I have to admit that I am as psyched to sing "Look Like A Fool" and "Great Things" as anyone (and probably moreso, despite the unlikelihood of that actually happening) but I also miss the wandering songs filled with lovely concrete images and narrative like "Wonderful to Me," "Jesus, My Everything," and "Lead Me Home."

I don't know what to attribute this shift to: settling more into the role of "worship leader" as opposed to songwriter, interest in hows and whys of Christian songwriting, a desire to be more accessible?

Back to the album at hand: I am excited for the mail later today. When I first saw the album's track list I was slightly annoyed that four of the songs are already released (albeit some have been made over). I mean, c'mon, that' s a quarter of the record! As soon as I heard "I Rejoice" I was unabashedly won over again. It's so intense! This is what I miss in some of the other songs, though. "Lay It Down" is a song whose lyrics unfold in my prayer every time I approach the tabernacle to pray and yet this recording of a song Matt has sung live for years doesn't really build with the kind of strength I would like to see until the very end. That aside, I'm ecstatic it found its way onto an album. I can't wait for the ripples of this song to crest in many many people genuinely finding in it a vehicle to surrender. That's the power of music and the Holy Spirit.

I also have to highlight that I really love the title track. This song is just interesting. The lyrics are personal in the way I mentioned above, I love it when Matt sings with his head voice (see "By the Rivers of Babylon," the final stroke on Matt's last release and one of the gems of that album), there are VIOLINS, it's piano driven, and best of all it feels TRUE.

I really said this was just going to be a few thoughts. The more I listen to this album, though, the more Matt's music converts me all over again, in every sense.

I hope we plant a seed

Caedmon's Call Review

About two hours into Caedmon’s set on Saturday I glanced over at the friends I was with and their almost-two-year-old Goddaughter was sprawled across their laps fast asleep as Andy and Derek wailed the harmonies of “Hold the Light,” and that moment encapsulates the beauty of the evening for me: the combination of love and familiarity mixed together with new things that fit as if they’ve been long worn in.

As soon as Derek walked on stage and picked up his 12-string to start playing I felt the expectancy in the whole room spill over and wash towards the front and it was like all of that energy was precisely funneled back in the howling acoustics of the songs. I thought Derek nailed his set 100%- reformed theology! wry humor! powerful vocals! intense guitar! convulsive twitches away from the mic! By merit of being a popular favorite I sometimes resent the seeming omnipresence of “Wedding Dress” as part of Derek’s set but hearing it Saturday night the sound was so fresh it was like walking in my homeland, along the Gulf of Mexico at night with the air so full and the pulse of waves at my side, it was that good.

When the “small army that is now Caedmon’s Call” came out together there was a palpable rising of excitement which finally bubbled over when everyone stood up to clap and dance to “Two Weeks in Africa” which was great. I was so happy to be part of a crowd who seemed to feel the joy I did at getting to be a part of this tour- I bought tickets months ago which was just the culmination of my excitement that Derek collaborated on this album at all. My enthusiasm for Derek’s presence noted, Andy Osenga brings something undeniably awesome to the band.- he writes songs that are slightly different for them, he ROCKS and writhes with the guitar, when he hammers on a string you can’t help but take some serious notice, and when he talks he’s hilarious, to boot. As delighted as I was to hear Derek blended with Danielle and Cliff again, the truly thrilling thing for me (on the “Overdressed” album, too of course) was getting to hear Derek and Andy together. I already mentioned the wonder of “Hold the Light” but Andy’s solo set was superb too and made all the more elegant by Derek’s slightly wandering presence stage left nodding along, totally immersed in the music. Not to mention one of the hands-down highlights of the show was the power combo of Andy, Cliff, Danielle, and Derek totally soaring through the harmonies of “Expectations.” So hats off to Andy O.

There were so many other great moments though- there is something so lyrical and primal about Garett on percussion, as someone else noted Josh totally filled in when Derek was doing some crazy multi-tasking after breaking a string on “Faith My Eyes,” it blows my mind to have as much percussion as Caedmon’s does but what would the sound be like without Todd?! A few songs in I started to feel the bass through the pews and have to reiterate my earlier question in regards to Jeff who just manages to make the songs feel so much fuller. I agreed with whoever commented that Danielle seemed under-utilized. Her voice is so much that trademark Caedmon’s sound and I don’t think she actually spoke at all. Someone noted that during their first show Andy seemed to sort of be the extra guitar player on the side and I couldn’t help but feel like Cliff and Danielle didn’t get to carve their unique places. The trio of voices during many of the “old” songs was exhilarating but I would have liked to get more personality coming through. My most outstanding memory of Cliff during the show was his hilarious “transition” to talk about DFN and analogizing the possibility of forgetting the words of “This World” to when your kids run around the corner and you can see in their eyes that they’ve chosen the moment to poop. “Anybody been to India?!”

As others mentioned it was definitely a long set but I was engaged during every song and walked away in disbelief that I only paid $15 for the ticket- who gets a three hour concert for that!? Once again Caedmon’s established LIVE why they have remained one of my favorite bands for the past ten years. Two things would have made that show better (1) SANDRA (2) Far from stoning whoever suggested it, I agree that a song or two off of “Long Line of Leavers” (which I still maintain is their most underrated record!) would have rounded out the set- we’re not all married and settled yet!

Overall, though, left me thoughtful, joyful, and content- who can ask for more than that?

originally published here